The House of Assembly is the

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

. It is established by Chapter III of the Constitution of Dominica, and together with the President of Dominica constitutes Dominica's

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. The House is

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

, and consists of twenty-one Representatives, nine senators, and the Attorney General as an '' ex officio'' member. The

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...

becomes the thirty-second member if chosen from outside the membership of the House. Representatives are directly elected in single-member

constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

using the simple-majority (or

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

) system for a term of five years. The Representatives in turn decide whether the senators are to be elected by their vote, or appointed. If appointed, five are chosen by the president with the advice of the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

and four with the advice of the Leader of the Opposition. The current Senators are appointed. The Cabinet of Dominica is appointed from members of the House of Assembly. However, no more than three senators may be members of the Cabinet.

History

House of Assembly was established in 1968, and it was preceded by a colonial Legislative council.

Representatives

Since the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

held on 6 December 2022, the

Dominica Labour Party The Dominica Labour Party is a centre-left social-democratic political party in Dominica. History Founded in 1955 by Phyllis Shand Allfrey and Emmanuel Christopher Loblack, the Dominica Labour Party is the oldest political party in Dominica. N ...

holds 19 of the 21 directly elected seats, and independent candidates hold two elected seats. The new House of Assembly included a record ten women.

Senators

The following Senators were appointed for the parliamentary term beginning 10 February 2020:

International affiliation(s)

ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly The ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly was created to bring together the elected representatives of the European Union (the Members of the European Parliament) and the elected representatives of the African, Caribbean and Pacific states ("ACP c ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

-CARICOM Parliamentary Friendship Group *

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), previously known as the Empire Parliamentary Association, is an organisation which works to support good governance, democracy and human rights. In 1989 the patron of the CPA was the Head ...

*ParlAmericasCaribbean Group
ParlAmericas

Notes

References

*. *. *.

External links

* House of Assembly

About

Profile of the Parliament of Dominica
- Secretariat of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA)

Dominic Electoral system
Profile of Dominca
- Inter-Parlmiamentary Union

Other

Laws of the Commonwealth of Dominca
- Government portal
Official Gazette

Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica
- official website {{DEFAULTSORT:House Of Assembly Of Dominica 1978 establishments in Dominica Government of Dominica Politics of Dominica